It is a known fact that there were accusations of witchcraft in the town of Salem Massachusetts. There were strange illnesses occurring along with strange behavior of its inhabitants. The accused were brought to court and many were convicted with the sentence of death by burning or hanging. The town today is a tourist attraction with tours with information on the accused.
I went to Salem this past summer and you would have never guessed that what went on there actually happened. There were many houses that had been there at the time of the witch trials that you could tour along with a theater that performed a reenactment of one of the trials. However, when I was in the center of town or walking through the houses I couldn't quite shake the odd feeling from the things that had taken place in the past. The stories that the tour guides told us gave me the creeps kind of. But the accusations and the trials seemed unnecessary. Today, they would just seem like someone going insane or catching some mystery virus. That happens today and we don't go around accusing people of witchcraft. The whole witch trial thing seemed to go out of hand after the first witch was convicted.
I think your post is very interesting. It shows that time can change the appearance of something, but not the actual history. I think it is cool that you have been to Salem and think it will give you an interesting perspective on the play.
ReplyDeleteI think it is definitely interesting to see how our views on things develop and change over time. Like way back when, seeing a woman's ankles was considered a scandalous thing, whereas now, it very clearly isn't. And how you compared how we view illness and things now, versus back then (though I will say the Ebola thing is a bit of an overreaction on our part, but at least we aren't needlessly murdering people)
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